Ways to Connect

Comedian Roy Wood Jr.'s got his first big break doing prank phone calls on the radio. But unlike many pranksters, he often conducted these calls live on the air, which led to some problems. He even got suspended for one particular call, which he shared with host Ophira Eisenberg. "I called a cruise ship company and told them my Granddaddy left his wallet on a slave ship when he came from Africa...and I needed them to check lost and found." The call later went viral and can still be found on YouTube.

How does a movie fulfil the Bechdel Test? If it has two women that have a conversation with each other about something other than a man – it passes! In this game, contestants guess the names of the surprising bro-y films that happen to pass the test.

Who's the only U.S. President with the letter X in their last name? Richard Nixon, of course! In this final round, contestants are given a category and a letter, and must respond with the only item or person that fits the bill.

Comedian and St. Louis native Kathleen Madigan credits growing up in the Midwest for her sense of humor. "We have an underdog attitude that makes us...observers rather than participants," She told host Ophira Eisenberg on stage at the Bell House in Brooklyn. "People that are in cool cities are actually participating in their lives...And we're just sitting there going, 'Why the f*** are we here?'"

Our finalists compete for the win — literally! In this final round, all answers contain the consecutive letters W-I-N. For example, the answer to "buildings that Don Quixote believes are giants" is "windmills."

"I'm really happy to be a part of something I'm proud of, 'cause that's not always the case!" actress Zazie Beetz told host Ophira Eisenberg on the Bell House stage. Beetz plays Vanessa on the FX television series Atlanta, which follows a group of characters trying to make it in the rap music industry. Vanessa plays the only female character, the single mother of the main character's child.

What would you get if Scrabble hooked up with a Russian nesting doll? That's what contestants figure out in this game where every answer is a multisyllabic word, followed by a word found inside that word. If we said, "My science experiment may or may not include an electronically charged particle," the answer would be "optional ion" because the word "optional" contains the word "ion."

What do Pitbull and Celine Dion have in common? They both have honorary degrees! In this game we play a clip of a famous person accepting an honorary degree, and contestants buzz in to guess who else has joined the exclusive club.

Grab some sunscreen and a time machine! Jonathan Coulton takes us all the way back to the summer of 2016 with a parody of "Cake By The Ocean," where each clue is about something you'd find--you guessed it--by the ocean.

All answers in this final round consist of two words, both words starting with D. For example, if we said, "A clue in Jeopardy! where a contestant can wager their entire earnings," you'd answer, "Daily Double."

According to celebrity chef Cat Cora, when she became the first female Iron Chef in America, things started to get a little weird. "I got into a winning streak...I would wear the same socks, I'd eat the same breakfast - I mean five almonds on my granola, my two tablespoons ... of yogurt... I measured everything out," she told host Ophira Eisenberg. "You get weird, you get freakin' weird."

An-cay ou-yay eak-spay ig-Pay atin-Lay? In this game, clues hint at a word AND its Pig Latin translation. If we said, "Get CLOSE TO THE GROUND to CHEER at a bullfight," you'd answer, "Low... ole," because the Pig Latin translation of the word "LOW" is "OW-LAY."

Chris Pratt stars in "Disco Walrus Jr.," a movie in which he runs around a theme park whose genetic engineering produces a funky sea mammal. That's the gist of this game, where titles of recent movies are anagrammed to make new titles.

If Jonathan Coulton sang the Cyndi Lauper song "Time After Time," but the lyrics were about the show Project Runway after Tim Gunn retires, the answer would be "Time After Tim." That's the gist of this music game where we remove one letter from the title of ballads.

Our finalists get nautical in this final round where every answer contains a form of marine life. For example, if we said, "it's a piece of sports footwear worn in ice hockey," the answer would be "skate."

Pablo Hidalgo is a creative executive at Lucasfilm, but host Ophira Eisenberg isn't quite buying the title. "Sounds a little made up," joked Eisenberg from NPR's New York City studios. "What actually is your day-to-day job?" Hidalgo explained it quite simply: it's to know absolutely everything there is to know about Star Wars. As the universe expands, it's Hidalgo's job to make sure everything stays accurate and in sync — a Star Wars story consultant, if you will.

On a scale of one to ten of how she's doing, these days Lauren Weedman is a solid eight. But the author of Miss Fortune: Fresh Perspectives on Having It All From Someone Who Is Not Okay hasn't always been this 'okay.' In fact, she revealed to host Ophira Eisenberg, "When I started writing the book, I was way less okay. It was very much embracing ... what a mess [I am]."

There's nothing like retreating to your favorite secluded spot and indulging in a good book. Next best thing? Hearing Jonathan Coulton sing about other people who enjoy seclusion, too! Then, nonfiction books get the blockbuster movie trailer treatment. Finally, find the perfect reading snack with a mash-up game featuring book titles reimagined as foods.

The first step in choosing a great book to read? Check the reviews. Guess classic novels like Moby Dick from their actual one-star Amazon reviews. Then, see if you can tell the difference between a Choose Your Own Adventure book and a Weekly World News headline in one of the very first This, That, or the Others written for the AMA stage.

All bets are off in this week's final round, where each answer contains the word "off." For example, if we asked, "Name the story of a high school senior that ditches school to ride around Chicago in this 1986 comedy," you'd say, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Even acclaimed actors like Dennis Quaid, known for his roles in The Rookie, The Right Stuff, and The Parent Trap, have to start somewhere. "I worked as a clown at Astroworld," he revealed to host Ophira Eisenberg. "It's the wonderful place of fun, fun, fun!" he joked. After leaving the lucrative $2.85-an-hour world of theme park entertainment behind, Quaid moved to L.A. to pursue an acting career. It wasn't long before he scored his defining role in the 1979 cycling film Breaking Away.

Get ready to be exponentially impressed with this game, where contestants add the letter 'N' to common phrases, and turn them into less common phrases. For example, if you were to add an "N" to a glum person to convert them into a bag used for flood protection, you'd turn your sad sack into a sand sack!'

Ever leave spare quarters in your other pair of jeans, the ones you were wearing earlier in the day? In this music game, we rewrote the lyrics to David Bowie's "Changes" to be about things that change or get changed.

Brooklyn Decker would have been named Brooke--after her mom's best friend's horse--but her dad decided to spice it up and go with Brooklyn. "He's the epitome dad joke guy," the actor explains. Though now it's considered a trendy name, she told host Ophira Eisenberg at the Majestic Theater in Dallas, Texas that she was teased for it while growing up in North Carolina. She even ended up living in Brooklyn for a time, "which was a thing in itself."